Chapter 26. Chapter 26: Climate Change
What is the difference between climate and weather?
Guiding Question 26.1
What is the difference between climate and weather? Why is a change of a few degrees in average global temperatures more concerning than day-to-day weather changes of a few degrees?
Why You Should Care
One can speak of “spring coming early” or a “late spring snowstorm” and everyone would agree that there are strange weather events like this every year. Each year includes a different combination of warm and cold, dry and wet, early and late months or seasons. These are all part of what scientists agree is weather. Predictions for weather are short term (up to 7 or 10 days) and are expected to be fairly specific and accurate about temperature and precipitation. Any period of time longer than that (2 weeks to 100 years) is termed climate and represents average weather patterns over those longer periods.
Scientists have records from the past century (or more) of daily temperatures and any given day will likely be within a few degrees (above or below) of the historic average daily temperature. Over the course of a year, days with temperatures above the average tend to be matched by days with temperatures below the average. Imagine what daily weather would be like if the historical temperature average increased 3 degrees: All the daily temperature predictions would use a higher temperature to make their predictions. There would still be days that were warmer or colder, but the higher average would shift everything. A warmer climate has a much greater impact than a warmer day or month.
Question Test Your Vocabulary
Choose the correct term for each of the following definitions:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| S2HnvniIYlpavLNtpiCR7UV6LOwWd2Ya4ojf4eCP0O2aZWNFcGLhkw== | Alteration in the long-term patterns and statistical averages of meteorological events. |
| nHt+dQcMndu8lWuo9gLABpiiOxdIQnkT03s5RRvlvmkuZqM//Ub1OA== | The meteorological conditions in a given place on a given day. |
| Vy9LbQ/engz9bfULmo/mnupGwNsdW/O7r7Uw9al0Gg3Ovk3fem3Wbw== | Long-term patterns or trends of meteorological conditions. |
Question 26.1
2EyQ75wTD7f79YzOdm81BYQeiY+vv960iG8HjZBalY1t66ZGZUz9kL6sIaaAKqI5edF4vwcpvnBf7+mIwmTmsZa3L5tnTJlxsH95Kdi8w7suptpYjqf6Jizld+tBtNVfITjCeluwvu+Rc1pQVJOzYgPhOCTqYJx87giDfNAk8tSJmpuFjBra3Ofnc7LkksvBj0N72tjrmg1pNRxUbWF0lBP4z+o=Question 26.2
mdVQtcJQyj74/6KQWsBTbgbGEnhT9EZqo0wGu9O9LSoL7eanDXd9rA6SxPKTVV8EomlVcqX26bFJBkzI6k4Y395DLaTPzy0OxeRBRDXQzkl+Y1Mag/+aI2w9luAchHTJmDMVKBKEyDn/C5Jp0o64NU/Cob8oBQQEK4fTeaHE92I6LzP+NM7d1KvI0h9JuEElJiVN/o1hCElPf3JgZL8qszI1RN3l5eIZDK/ajewh+vCuInDpZfsUemrPT28TAdUBg8sS8if3FjascGJ8Q5kO3A8hk/zWl1I22bnVZmJh96oLP87tnfCeV4WgZc/X2PzZVb6KF1NfP469puByGVAvsmekw3ULLu+oWMGViguyb4We1B9WG1xMxNiAmfyVd7t2qlq85Q==Question 26.3
b2L+HAbAKwQnambVbfYef9fYRErPIjBpkWf+mfcHoDUv/Sq9vCI5e3liRulhS0kvC9mc6ly4PslU4LcpHxopGq+1PVFVfY10Ceq2QiPlU/me0oOb/yX5Zr5JwoXSXtLMjvFkALZ+Zh4yFLR5CgDzUSrEYXG676aQUUSfI007h9chr+HnX9yYNBo4g48e72nth9q+KLQVO5KRBvgQubH78CiL2wsZaXm91zKL4KcSmnxv1PKJFzXH6bBOk8r25gR/JyuxB0I8iRH1SVdN5mDgrN0nDcc=Question 26.4
nIPX2TvfDa+Pp0vfityuHNiSNMc2ABRM+scQ5935rodc6hC1whXCPDOO36Bf1vs5gTwIacvt1UlEC85YTTguG1YlHIzAgwAtX6Q5Y6B4pmNYAmoOtyStkj2uKbBLwrFF+QcRBardAJiLTCqJWkZ0Hly9a3gI9PivuOMf3Y/09blqhlO++hfv6zKSb2bG4iiqDq2LbvCztrowM2/qBaKARnkY3RvIdbWIljUA1mHbdfXp1zRKY1FNpmOz2EUqyPxnFw9JCTfNpByvqpLyDEkkFcPQB8B5UaBGCqW2DvdaBdCDqn8s+38GBM8vs/xrROJ1GsqiiI2PGbD5E4J5Question 26.5
